We are sure you’ve heard of Google Analytics and the Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools), and probably use them. But I’d like to share the tools I’d also suggest.

Ahrefs. Want to know which sites link to your site? Which links are keepers and which are clunkers? Who links to your competitors? Ahrefs is the best backlinks checker and analysis tool. I use it every day. It’s $79/month - which may sound expensive if you’re not a full-time SEO-er - but the intel it gives you is priceless.

Moz Local. The free scan is gives you a rough picture of which major local directories you’re listed on, as well as how many of those listings have the correct info. The paid version ($84/year) will actually create listings on those sites for you - and the listings in its network often are a pain to claim/fix or create manually. I use the free version every day and use the paid version for a good chunk of my clients.

NAP Hunter Lite. A Google Chrome extension that finds incorrect business listings, so you can fix them. Free.

Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder. Tells you which local-business directories and other “local citation sources” your competitors are listed on. That allows you to list your business on those same sites, too. That’s an advantage you can neutralize. The “Small Business” version is $20/month, but the free version is pretty good.

CrazyEgg. It shows you a heatmap of exactly where your website visitors click and scroll. You can study the heatmaps and understand how to make your site better at converting however much traffic you get.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Tells you whether your site is technically mobile-friendly. (It can be technically mobile-friendly but still not very good, so in some senses that’s a low bar.)

Review handouts. One-page PDFs that you give to your customers to walk them through how to post a review on Google. You can generate a free PDF over at Whitespark.

Asana. The project-management tool I and my helpers use to get things done. The free version is probably all you need.

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